3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020

Nationally, all MENA alone or in any combination groups met the minimum population counts required for producing sex-by-age data. About 26% of the total MENA population was under age 18; 42% ages 18 to 44; 22% ages 45 to 64; and 11% age 65 and over (Figure 2).

The Yazidi and Yemeni populations had the largest shares of people under 18 years of age (43% and 42%, respectively). In contrast, the Iranian and Omani populations had the smallest shares of people under 18 years (17% and 18%, respectively).

Over two-thirds of the Omani (75%) and Saudi (68%) populations were between the ages of 18 to 44. The Assyrian and Syriac populations had the smallest population shares (35% each) of 18- to 44-year-olds.

Under 10% of Omani (6%), Saudi (6%) and Emirati (7%) populations were between ages 45 and 64, and over a quarter of the Assyrian population (26%) was in that age group.

The share of those 65 years and older was less than 5% for eight groups: Bahraini, Yemeni, Qatari, Emirati, Yazidi, Kuwaiti, Saudi and Omani.

Over 15% of the Iranian (18%), Assyrian (18%) and Syriac (16%) populations were 65 years and over.

California, Michigan and New York had the largest MENA populations, with over 300,000 people reporting MENA alone or in any combination (Table 2). California had twice as many people identifying as MENA alone or in any combination (740,219 people) as any other state.

Lebanese was the only group that appeared in the top three largest detailed alone or in any combination groups in all ten states with the largest MENA populations while Egyptian appeared in seven of them. Palestinian appeared in the top three groups in Illinois and Ohio. Chaldean and Iraqi in Michigan, Assyrian in Illinois, Syrian in New Jersey, Arab in Ohio and Moroccan in Massachusetts all appeared once in the top three in those states.

Figure 3 shows the distribution of the nation's five largest detailed MENA alone responses in the ten states with the largest MENA alone populations. In the ten states, the "Other Middle Eastern and North African group" category was the largest share of the population.

Of the nation's five largest groups, the Egyptian alone population made up 39% of the MENA alone population in New Jersey.

In California, the largest of the five groups was Iranian alone (34%). Similarly in Texas and Virginia, the Iranian alone population was about a fifth of the MENA alone population and the largest of the five groups in those states (20% and 19%, respectively).

The Lebanese alone population was over a fifth of the MENA alone population in Massachusetts (24%), Michigan (22%), and Ohio (21%).

The Iraqi alone population was 15% of the MENA alone population in Michigan and 11% in Texas.

In about a third of all counties (1,009), Lebanese was the largest MENA alone or in any combination group (Figure 4).

While prevalent in numerous counties across the United States, the largest concentration of the Lebanese population was in Wayne County, Michigan, where 33.9% of the 139,751 MENA respondents identified as Lebanese alone or in any combination. In Wayne County, home to the cities of Detroit and Dearborn, 7.8% of residents identified as MENA alone or in any combination, the highest percentage of any U.S. county.

The Iranian alone or in any combination population was the largest MENA group in 95 counties. The counties with Iranian as their largest MENA group were concentrated in California and in and around Washington, D.C. The county with the largest population of Iranians was Los Angeles, California (101,632), where 44.4% of MENA respondents reported they were Iranian alone or in any combination with another group.

From Suffolk County, New York in eastern Long Island to Atlantic County in southern New Jersey, Egyptian was often the largest MENA alone or in any combination group. In total, it was the largest group in 74 counties.

Several other groups were concentrated in different parts of the country. The Iraqi population, for example, was the largest MENA group in 24 counties, including San Diego County, California, and several throughout the Midwest. The Palestinian population was the largest MENA group in 27 counties, including several in the Chicago area.